GENERAL
Female. Midnight Stalker pathera
Wizard: Yves. Lightshifter.
First name: Sina
First appearance: [B1.C1]
Midnight is a massive panther-like beast that weighs over 90 kilograms. As with every midnight stalker, her fur is black as coal during the day, with streaks of silver that shimmer in the moonlight. When Yves was born, her few silver streaks were concentrated just around her eyes. As she got older, the silver fur gradually became more pronounced and extended from under and above her eyes to her throat, shoulders and the back of her head.
As a pathera, her lithe form ia an embodiment of speed, agility, and endurance, granting her the ability to run and climb swiftly. Midnight’s padded paws, featuring thick, velvet-like cushions, facilitate her silent movement.
MIDNIGHT STALKER
MIDNIGHT AS MIDNIGHT STALKER
rrrAs a midnight stalker, Midnight can hide her presence and energy within the shadows. Aligned with her role as the familiar of a Lightshifter, her fur can absorb light, rendering her but an indistinguishable, blurry shadow even when spotted in dim environments.
Beyond her camouflage, Midnight wields an array of other abilities. Midnight stalkers move with an uncanny silence. Midnight's padded paws, featuring thick, velvet-like cushions, facilitate such silent movement.
Her eyesight, adapted for nocturnal settings, allows her to distinguish a variety of colours and ethereal energies that are imperceptible to the humanoid eye. She can also perceive strong forces such as the moons or the Vicha encountered in [B1], recognising their presence past physical obstructions such as raging storms.
While she cannot perceive light fragments in their complete alladharian existence or adjust her depth perception in peculiar extremes like the Lightshifter wizards could, her midnight stalker senses touch upon the Alladharian Dimension. She had always excelled at noticing even the faintest phantom presences. This renders her not just a companion but a formidable scout in the service of her wizard, whose visual senses are sub-par.
SEY — Drawing Energy from the Moon
As the mother moon Sey emerges, she grants midnight stalkers energy which their bodies — through the silver elements of their fur, feathers, scales or skin — naturally conveys to Rothar.
In her existence as a midnight stalker, Sey's energy had sufficed to sustain Midnight, much like Yves may draw strength from Adhar. The mother moon had filled her with a comforting yet exhilarating rush of power every night, her ethereal light coursing through the pathera like lifeblood since her birth, until she transformed into a being of darkness. Midnight experiences this shift in her relation to Sey as a significant loss.
"Midnight did not see them — not as she once had, with her midnight stalker eyes that could perceive their presences even through the fiercest of storms; glowing orbs, like two wandering eyes in the sky. In her former form, Midnight had also relied on an innate sense of time, always aware of Sey’s arrival and the surge of energy she brought her. That intuitive connection had been severed." [B1.C13]
TRAINING AT EMERY THURM
At Emery Thurm,familiars undergo various forms of training. Midnight stalkers are instructed in their abilities to merge with the shadows.
MAGIC
WIELDING DARKNESS
As of [B1.C10], Midnight started to wield Darkness, shaping the dark currents in the form of discs and beams akin to how Yves uses glass and light magic. In how far these creations are magic is yet to be revealed.
DARKNESS
MIDNIGHT AND THE DARKNESS
"Midnight belonged to the shadows of the night, to the dense foliage of formidable forests. A natural hunter, she craved open expanses to roam and run. Yet, faced with the decision between exposing herself to the capricious skies or delving into the constricting depths of the subterranean, the latter always held sway." [B1.C8].
Midnight embodies the duality of primal instincts and arcane mastery of darkness, existing beyond the ordinary boundaries of familiars.
At Emery Thurm, Midnight delved into the depths of her own capabilities, becoming increasingly aware of her potential for growth alongside her wizard. Rigorous training with master wizards, autonomous exploration with other midnight stalkers, and manyfold explorations beyond the academy's walls further unveiled her innate abilities tethered to the shadows.
When venturing through the Albweiss Mountains in [B1.C8], Midnight faced existential dread and the insidious sickness delivered by arachnid venom. A newfound sensory awareness emerged as paralysis tightened her grip, prompting her to integrate the venom into her being. She fractured, split, and assimilated the venom with her energy. She cleaved the fragments that so much heightened her awareness from the parts that sought to destroy her body. The former transmuted into an eldritch energy that surged through her being — a conscious decision to shed the essence of a pure beast and become a creature of darkness.
"And as all light within her faded and her senses ever expanded, she became the darkness. And as the darkness, she had no limits." [B1.C8]
This transformation, marked by a lingering schism, represents the first time Midnight feels herself as two entities — the primal body and an awareness existing outside of her physical form. Consciously shedding her previous nature and instincts, she embraced the arcane path that defined her emerging magical abilities.
"Midnight knew that these two parts would now forever differ, but they would also, both, be darkness." [B1.C8]
In the desolate tunnels of the Albweiss Mountains, overtaken by venom, Midnight lerned to feed her energy to the essence of darkness within, and transforms into a Shadowbound. After that, she deliberately asks the beasts she encounters for more.
"Midnight sought the pain because it embodied her desire to become a creature of venom — a being of heightened senses where her mind, sight, hearing, and feeling all intensified in unison. The venom wrought change, expanding the boundaries of darkness within her, and extending her very essence into the all-encompassing nothing that surrounded her." [B1.C10]
When encountering the dawnings in [B1.C10], she undergoes another transformation that left her with heightened senses, enhanced control over the darkness and an insatiable hunger for essence. During the battle against the shadebeast [B1.C10], she then discards her Rothar and her natural essence. Keeping only her darkness essence, she gains true affinity and becomes a being of darkness.
"Midnight sensed the darkness essence shift, reaching and embedding its strands into this essence, connecting, claiming, and consuming it. And as only the darkness essence remained, the surges of darkness within expanded from under her skin to envelop every part of her being, from her teeth to her claws, from her fur to her silver eyes — unfettered by the sprites, Midnight transformed into a true being of darkness, not by concealing herself within, not by delving into it and merging, but from within, from her God-given core." [B1.C10]
"She had severed the bond that once connected her tangible body and her Rothar. Both existed no more. Yet, she existed. She existed in the absence of energies and light. She existed where nothing else could. She existed in the nothing and in the silence." [B1.C13]
CHOOSING DARKNESS FOR YVES
When suffering from the rockshade weavers' venom [B1.C8], Midnight undergoes her first transformation that would eventually turn her into a beast of darkness. She thereby autonomously decides to direct both her and Yves' future path:
"But what was their path? Within her surged light and shadows, the raw energy bestowed by the moon and the pull of the darkness. Amidst the shifting and changing currents of her mind, she comprehended that both these powers lay dormant, awaiting her conscious command to rouse one over the other. What stirred within her wizard?
He was a Lightshifter, but struggled to discern the elusive fragments of light, lost in the shadow of his growing blindness. This struggle had woven the fabric of their shared path. For him, Midnight could be the light, wielding the radiance he lacked and sought. She envisioned herself, fur aglow in radiant silver, like the moon but never wavering. A perfect complement to his deficiencies.
No. Midnight refused to be a mere reflection of his desires, she would be what he needed. She would not compensate for his losses. She would not be a regression to what he had been, a reminder of his past. Because then her presence would only revert him into what he tried so hard not to lose, and not into what he could take and be instead. Midnight would be the catalyst for his potential. She would never tread alongside his path as an illuminating crutch. Their paths would converge. To be what he needed, she must not be a giver, but a taker.
In the shroud of his blindness, she would embody the darkness. If others disturbed his mind, Midnight would not be a voice amongst them to offer soothing words, but the pervasive silence that drowned them. In the realm of his illusions that he so often conjured for companionship, she would stretch infinitely, a presence that brooked no intrusion. Where he felt nothing, she would be all.
Midnight's commitment was resolute. She would be darkness and she would be silence, an omnipresence consuming and expanding. If Yves recognised her whenever he saw and felt nothing, she would even kill the something.
This was the path she embraced, a covenant for the entirety of their existence. Deep within, an intuition grew and whispered ever louder that both Midnight and her wizard craved this enveloping darkness. She was not the companion to a wizard who lost and longed and lived for light. Midnight was the companion to a wizard who could take like only the shadows could. He delved into forbidden realms and exploited secret knowledge. He harnessed forces like the other one and the poison mirror energies to become more. Like shadows, he shifted out of this world to gain many forms. Her wizard traversed the unseen, the same as her." [B1.C8]
DAWNINGS — HER PERSONAL GODS
In [B1.C10], DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ take parts of Midnight's essence and in turn bestow her with some of theirs. Reflecting on this encounter and the concept of Gods, Midnight concludes that they must be Gods amongst the Darkness who acknowledged her.
"With this new piece of essence she had received, with the newfound, pulsating hunger coursing through her veins, Midnight now believed that the defining characteristic of Gods was a different nature. They were not predators, or trappers, or prey. No, they had a unique nature — it was inherent in them to impact other beings. Gods did not act to be acknowledged by lesser beings: they were the ones who sought and acknowledged lesser beings, as the dawnings had done with Midnight. Gods existed to make lesser beings more." [B1.C10]
As she develops the ability to shape and control darkness outside of her form, Midnight reasons that "the Gods chose her not to be a mere being of darkness, but a wielder of darkness." [B1.C10]
With [B1.C13], Midnight experiences a new voice within her mind. For the first time, she has thoughts that speak in first person: "She believed it was the voice of her Gods, a whisper born from the fragment of essence the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ had bestowed upon her. And because their essence had first become hers and then it had become her, the voice now spoke not to her or about her, but for her." [B1.C13]
Her transformation into a being of darkness makes her considers to remain within the Albweiss:
"Here, she could learn from the creatures of shadow, seek out the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ, and reveal to them what she had become. Among the beings of darkness, she could learn, grow and evolve. She would thrive. She would become more. The thought of seeking the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ coiled firmly around her mind, filling her with a sense of purpose. She could prove to them that their faith in her potential had not been misplaced." [B1.C13]
LIGHT — BENDING AND GRAVITATING
"She expected her emergence to be an act of force, a conflict between opposing elements. She anticipated needing to displace the light, to become a mass of darkness pushing against a mass of light fragments — like one beast trying to repel another. However, as she manifested outside the mountain, the light did not obstruct her like an external force. Nor did it pain her to exit the absolute darkness that had claimed the mountain. Midnight was there. The light fragments were there. They inhabited the same space, and yet, they did not touch." [B1.C13]
Even though Midnight does neither exist in the Alladharian nor in the Material Dimension, she became a presence when compressing her form in [B1.C13], which causes light to gravitate towards and radiate around her.
"She was not a phantom presence, not a dark shape or a shadow in this light-drenched environment, but she seemed to affect the Material Dimension. Midnight knew because even though she was nothing, the light started to flow around her. Beams of light, formerly prismatic reflections and straight rays, visibly bent in their trajectory towards her as if Midnight herself was attracting them. Unintentionally, she was pulling these phantom presences of light towards her (...) So gradually that Midnight could observe the changes, the light started to form ovals and rings around her. The omnipresent beams formed an intense orb of light with her at its center, encircling the ripples that extended from her essence (...) Suddenly, the darkness tethered to her essence began to erode. She felt herself being expended, exhausted merely to exist in the light-filled environment." [B1.C13]
The further she compresses her form, the larger the consuming orb grows.
"But the light clawed at her, like fire consuming the wax of a burning candle, gnawing its way down to the wick, her very core. She could feel it, this insidious force, pulling at the essence that defined her, threatening to consume her completely once the protective shell of darkness was exhausted. After the wax would come the wick." [B1.C13]
When moving, however, she realises that the light cannnot hold her captive. As she leaves them, the beams that threaten her fall back into their original patterns, while new orbs form where she ventures. As long as she stays in motion, faster than the light can close in, she can evade the consuming flame.
LIGHT — MIDNIGHT GUIDING
To reveal her presence for Salgier, Midnight allowed the gravitating light to form around her. Unbeknown to her, the dying wizard interpreted her as a guide into death.
"Well, then, perhaps the light had come for this very moment, a beacon from legends that spoke of what lies beyond death. Salgier had never dwelled on such thoughts and theories, like many who understood the concept of mortality but could not truly grasp their own finality. He had heard about various beliefs, but never considered what his own final moments might entail. Now, he found himself yearning to believe in the light, to trust that it would guide him as he slipped away." [B1.C13]
TEHARUN — UNBECOMING
"Everywhere was bathed in light, day and night. Even during the darker hours, some source of illumination persisted, whether it was the moons or the stars — except, of course, during the witching hour, the period of absolute darkness." [B1.C13]
LIGHT AND SENSES
In her darkness form, T̰́̇ͦ̀è̸̷̸̬̤̗̊_̸̵̰̦̗̒͜ȟ̗̍ͤa̶͉͉͍̭̰̅̀̈͜ͅȓ̶̶̛̦͇͙̟̈̿͒ͮ͑̋̚͡u̟͖͔̖̙͙͆̄̿ͩͧ̃̽̓̈̌̀͟͞n's veil grants Midnight protection from the consuming light and greatly enhances her senses:
"The world around her expanded, not into chaos but into startling order, an intricate lattice of existence laid bare before her. This clarity was unlike anything she had ever known. As a midnight stalker, Midnight had always possessed extraordinary night vision, a trait that defined her kind and made her a creature of night. Where wizards, under T̰́̇ͦ̀è̸̷̸̬̤̗̊_̸̵̰̦̗̒͜ȟ̗̍ͤa̶͉͉͍̭̰̅̀̈͜ͅȓ̶̶̛̦͇͙̟̈̿͒ͮ͑̋̚͡u̟͖͔̖̙͙͆̄̿ͩͧ̃̽̓̈̌̀͟͞n‘s veil, failed to recognise the world energies anchored in the Alladharian dimension, Midnight had been able to discerning vague outlines of her surroundings, albeit faintly, as though through looking through a distorted shroud of smoke. Sey had always anchored her, a pale but dependable compass. Even in the depths of the Albweiss tunnels, she had been able to perceive the world’s edges, however dimly.
Now, even Sey’s faint comforting presence was gone, smothered entirely by T̰́̇ͦ̀è̸̷̸̬̤̗̊_̸̵̰̦̗̒͜ȟ̗̍ͤa̶͉͉͍̭̰̅̀̈͜ͅȓ̶̶̛̦͇͙̟̈̿͒ͮ͑̋̚͡u̟͖͔̖̙͙͆̄̿ͩͧ̃̽̓̈̌̀͟͞n‘s impenetrable shadow. Now, for the first time, Midnight was utterly immersed in darkness — and yet, for the first time, she could see everything.
This was not vision as she had once known it. It was not the conversion of light into shapes and edges. This was something far more intricate, more raw. T̰́̇ͦ̀è̸̷̸̬̤̗̊_̸̵̰̦̗̒͜ȟ̗̍ͤa̶͉͉͍̭̰̅̀̈͜ͅȓ̶̶̛̦͇͙̟̈̿͒ͮ͑̋̚͡u̟͖͔̖̙͙͆̄̿ͩͧ̃̽̓̈̌̀͟͞n‘s rise had wiped the slate clean, covering the clutter of fragmented light and chaotic energy that had always surrounded her. The only thing that remained uncovered was essence. From one instance to the next, as the veil of the witch moon swept over her, Midnight perceived the world through essence — through the very flows and currents of existence itself.
The veil of T̰́̇ͦ̀è̸̷̸̬̤̗̊_̸̵̰̦̗̒͜ȟ̗̍ͤa̶͉͉͍̭̰̅̀̈͜ͅȓ̶̶̛̦͇͙̟̈̿͒ͮ͑̋̚͡u̟͖͔̖̙͙͆̄̿ͩͧ̃̽̓̈̌̀͟͞n did not obscure this new sensation — no, it enabled it. The moon’s veil stripped the world of all distractions, covering the chaos of swirling energy and the distorted fragments of scattered light, and leaving behind only the purest core." [B1.C14]
Under the witch moon's veil, Midnight perceives essence in places she had never before known it to exist. The Albweiss Mountains themselves seem to hold currents of existence, webs so delicate and diffuse they are barely distinguishable from the darkness they inhabit.
"They were so faint that they were almost nothing, that the mountain too, was almost darkness. But close to this nothing, there was an extraordinary amount of life. It was like seeing the ripple of vibrations beneath still water, the tremors beneath a surface that appeared unmoving. These energies flowed through the Albweiss, threading through stone and snow like veins, weaving life hidden beneath its frozen exterior. Midnight could feel the faint shifts within the mountain, the way its tension an intentions crept through the Snowtrail, cracks forming imperceptibly beneath the frozen crust." [B1.C14]
SPEED
Without restrictions, Midnight crosses distances that would break mortal endurance: entire mountain ranges pass beneath her in minutes, hundreds of kilometres vanished in less than an hour [B1.C14].
BECOMING NOT
In the Albweiss, as Midnight is not restrained by free world energies during the Witching Hour, "her being stretched outward, a tidal wave of sensation that swallowed the world. It was a revelation that both intoxicated and terrified her. She was everywhere, her presence diffused into the smallest cracks of the mountain, the faintest breaths of air. And yet, she was insubstantial, unmoored, the singularity of her mind unravelling and her very sense of self slipping away.
The mountain was no longer something she observed — she was becoming it. Her awareness flowed into the stone veins of the Albweiss, into the faint hum of frosthearts buried deep beneath the ice, into the residual tension of cracks forming in the Snowtrail. She was part of everything.
She was nothing becoming not." [B1.C14]
Overwhemled, she eventually pulls back, shrinking back into the singularity of her own mind.
INTERACTING WITH THE WORLD
When first leaving the confines of the Albweiss in [B1.C13], Midnight struggles to impact [beasts that exist on] the Material and Alladharian Dimension. Comparing herself to the shadebeast, who had been able to affect her before her transformation, Midnight reasoned that she needed to "actively alter something within herself, something in her approach, to touch upon a natural beast’s Rothar" [B1.C13]. She has yet to figure out how.
However, while she fails to gain a hold on fiator during her hunt, she is noticed by these beasts:
"As she struggled to make her darkness denser, now repeatedly attempting to wrap it around different creatures, the winged beasts began to stir. Something primal within them sensed the predator in their midst." [B1.C13]
She is also recognised when carrying the sigil ring she found in the Albweiss ice cavern [B1.C10]. While in her darkness form, it gave her away to a party she encountered in [B1.C13]:
"Though a relic that transcended both the Material and the Alladharian dimensions, it had magical ties to both. In that regard, it was the only tangible part of the nothing that was her, latched onto her net of darkness. Ethereal yet potent, its presence both elusive and undeniable, the ring anchored Midnight’s existence in this world of matter and Rothar."
In [B1.C13], when understanding her existence as a progression of change, she almost managed to grasp upon Salgier's essence. Caught in the spell that sustained the golem with essence, she had briefly found herself encased within the golem.
BATTLE & ABILITIES
TRAINING AND EVOLVING
"At Emery Thurm, familiars delved into their own capabilities. Midnight had been thrust into the awareness of how she would grow in size and strength, just like her wizard. The masters spoke of dormant magical abilities, a potential coiled within every familiar's existence, though only Midnight would feel it stir. Alongside the familiars of Yves’ commilita, she had endured arduous training with master wizards and their familiars. Beyond that, she had autonomously sought out other pathera and midnight stalkers, with whom she had delved into the shadows.
Each quest beyond the academy's walls had provided an exploration of her innate abilities tethered to the shadows. Observing familiars from other wizards during their artefact hunts, Midnight had gleaned as much as she could about who she might become. Still, she had never before witnessed the arcane potential that lay beyond her innate midnight stalker abilities.
From the cryptic knowledge she gathered, these abilities might birth at random, be triggered in moments of great peril, or emerge through her wizard's actions. His growth and prowess affected her. It was understood that wizards excelling in their craft shared bonds with more potent familiars, whose abilities were unravelled earlier than the average of their race." [B1.C8]
FIGHTING PROWESS
In battle, Midnight faces her adversaries with pride. Her attacks are a daunting display of speed, power and agility. Her aggressive manoeuvres are borne from calculated ferocity, a symbiosis of raw instinct and deadly precision. When overtaken by panic, she falls back onto her instincts, with her body reacting before she can consciously grasp what was happening.
SAYRA — SOUND SHADOW
"Midnight knew that beasts who melted seamlessly into the shadows could still betray their existence through their Sayra, a phenomenon known as sound shadow. Her training at Emery Thurm had unveiled these sound shadows not as audible occurrences, but as the opposite — as areas of muted ambient noise. Sayra could only be spotted through sound. They were imperfections where incoming sound shifted in volume or, with inexperienced midnight stalkers, met an abrupt hush. Where disturbances reverberated, and echoes betrayed their own discordance, beasts hid within the shadows. Midnight was skilled in discerning these auditory subtleties in the same way that she had learned to reduce the anomalies caused by her own Sayra." [B1.C8]
SENSING AS DARKNESS
DARKNESS SENSE
"Her transformation had rendered her senses alien to the world of the living. Yet through her darkness, she had learned to make sense of it anew." [B1.C13]
"Now, as darkness, she no longer saw in the conventional sense — she perceived. Her awareness unfurled like a shroud of mist over the land, touching and knowing everything it covered." [B1.C13]
"Though she no longer experienced the world like a beast — no longer saw, heard, smelled, or touched it — she perceived reality in a far more insidious manner, both outwardly and inwardly. The world around her was no longer something to interact with but something to recognise and pass through, while the world within her seemed vast, teeming with thoughts, sensations and power yet to be claimed." [B1.C10]
Exploring her darkness form and senses in [B1.C13], Midnight gradually improves her ability to perceive "this new old world", focussing on discerning foces of nature and the fractured existences of natural beasts. Amidst the Albweiss, she discerns "what should be the thin, biting air, and the weight of the night wind heavy with the scent of snow and stone". Also, "she could touch upon the everything that lay outside of her own nothingness to such degree, that she recognised sound — distortions of the almost nothing that was air; swirling waves that created an echo, not unlike the ripples of darkness that had defined the existence of the shadebeast." [B1.C13] Through continuing practice, she learns to distinguish spech from incantations, and is eventually able to discern individual words.
Hunting fiator, she learns to distinguish their essence from their tangible body and Rothar.
POISON
In [B1.C13], Midnight realises that she is able to distinguish poison within the surges of wind traversing from the swamps across the Albweiss, intuitively suspecting that this ability might relate to her becoming a creature of poison throughout her darkness transformation.
FIGHTING AS DARKNESS
Through the darkness sense she acquires with her venom transformation, Midnight can discern her surroundings. After receiving a fragment of darkness essence from the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ in [B1.C10], she learns to weave the darkness around her into extensions of her claws.
After achieving true affinity as a being of darkness, Midnight gains the ability to fight in her darkness form, unhindered by matter and gravity. She can sift through impossibly small passages and crevasses.
"She was not restricted to the darkness within her. All the darkness was her weapon." [B1.C10]
During her fight against the shadebeast, Midnight realises that Yves' experiences with dimensions and magic must have transferred unto her. Consequently, she is able to shape and wield dense distortions of darkness in the form of spears, discs and tendrils that lash out like serpents [B1.C10].
The same fight showed that other beings of darkness may rupture her:
"Despite her efforts, he still overwhelmed her, delivering massive strikes with his powerful paws that ripped right through her. Each blow tore her form asunder, distorting her senses and wrenching fragments away from the darkness that was her. Once severed, these fragments eluded her grasp, slipping beyond her reach to reclaim and reintegrate." [B1.C10]
CONSUMING ESSENCE
▪ [B1.C8] revealed that Midnight bit Yves when she was overwhelmed by their bond during a battle. It is unclear whether she thereby touched upon his essence.
▪ In [B1.C10], Midnight receives a fragment of essence from the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ, upon which she had heard the voice say: "I am darkness. Darkness is me."
▪ In [B1.C11], she consumes the shadebeast's essence. After that, the voice had stated: "I am change. Change is me."
▪ [B1.C13] shows that she develops an insatiable HUNGER for essence.
▪ In [B1.C13], Midnight tried but failed to grasp the essence of an avian beast: "The very nature of all that was something resisted the intrusion of the nothing that was her." She seems unable to touch natural beings and with that, fails to sustain herself, to preserve the currents of darkness attached to her essence.
TRAVERSING MATTER
As darkness, Midnight traverses matter such as the Albweiss Mountains rock face:
"Freed from her body, Midnight moved within the nothing. Even in the densest structures of rock, nothing found space, and within such nothing, Midnight flowed, seeping through the mountain’s stone arteries. The voice within her remained silent, yet she believed that her Gods were with her. Midnight felt a satisfying sense of unity with the darkness and the stone, a oneness that transcended any previous bond. The darkness was no longer just a form she assumed; it was her very being. As she moved, she was both a part of the mountain and beyond it, both a part of the world and apart from it. As a being that thrived in the absence of light and energy; she was everything within the nothing." [B1.C13]
Midnight learns that she can, to some extent, spread and densify her form, expanding or compressing her presence. Moving in the material world she does not appear to be contrained by physical matter. [B1.C13]
In her darkness form, she is able to carry uniquely enchanted items void of matter, such as messenger strings and beast-wizard sigil rings.
Contemplating what comprises her essence and confines all that this essence adds to her [material] existence, Midnight compares herself to an arachnid spinning a web around its own legs [B1.C13].
ADDITIONAL ABILITIES
▪ Midnight can read some witch runes. With and through Yves, she had developed not a literal but an intuitive understanding of Faramyr. With most words, she felt their general intention, although some she could read at sight. Among them were runes representing various elements, as well as common spellcores. [B1.C10]
YVES
HER RELATIONSHIP WITH YVES
In their profound connection as familiar and wizard, Midnight and Yves recognize each other's emotions on a fundamental level. Through their symbiotic bond, they share sensual perceptions and even pass the potential for developing new magical abilities onto each other.
Yves trusts Midnight's senses, while she relies on his wizardly ability to envision future events. In the same way Yves' humanoid senses recognise only a fraction of what the present unfolded for Midnight, she acknowledges her wizard's knowledge of the world and his ability to strategise. In this constant exchange, they teach each other, and both grow and learn from the shared experiences.
In [B1.C10], Midnight criticises Yves' lack of independence as an infant, as it stands in sharp contrast to the innate independence and instinctive knowledge she possessed as a patherren. It had thrilled Midnight to witness the evolution of his instincts over the years, forged in shared conflicts. In the crucible of battle, there are instances when he mirrors the primal tempest raging within her. These are the most intense moments between them. Moments where Midnight does not need to transfer her feral intuition, where what emanates from Yves reflects and amplifies the unrestrained storm within her. These are ecstatic, exalting experiences, where Yves feels less like a wizard and more like a beast.
Their first intense encounter at Emery Thurm saw Midnight overwhelmed, losing herself in a tempest of shared emotions. Unable to endure these feelings, she attacked her wizard, biting into his throat and experiencing an intoxicating taste that became her darkest shame.
"Where he felt nothing, she would be all." [B1.C8]
In embracing the path of darkness in [B1.C8], Midnight rejects being a compensatory light for Yves's emerging blindness. In the shroud of his blindness, she becomes a creature of darkness and silence, offering an omnipresent and unintrusive presence. Midnight's transformation into a shadowbound signifies a conscious decision to become a catalyst for her wizard's potential, choosing a path in darkness over compensating for his blindness.
Yet, with her continuing transformation into a wielder of darkness, Midnight expresses faith and focus on the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ, realising in [B1.C13] that she might well remain with them in the Albweiss Mountains.
"Her transformation had stripped away the trappings of her former life, leaving only the essence of what she had become. But somewhere, still, the bond with her wizard had remained. Even if the bond had remained just in her mind, it was a fragment of her past that she still carried with her, the fragment that kept her moving. It was the voice of Yves that she remembered so well that she could almost hear him in that small and quiet part of her mind that brought up all the questions, explanations and memories. It was broken only by the faint, almost imperceptible whispers that came from the new voice within her, the voice of her Gods that would tell her all the truths about who she was now." [B1.C13]
[B1.C13] showed that, despite her frayed connection to Yves, Midnight could not fully embrace the new path bestowed upon her by the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ without knowing what had become of her wizard after the Vicha encounter.
THE SOMETHING
In [B1.C5], Midnight distinguishes the body, the words and the voice as different parts of Yves.
"The more he grew, the more his body and voice and words started to contradict each other. While his body would tell her “I am exhausted and afraid,” and his voice would say “I am angry,” his words would say “I am fine.”
In some regard, Midnight understood the purpose of this. When she faced an overpowering enemy and felt many things at once, she selected to show pride and fearlessness and the conviction to fight with all she had, even if she, within herself, recognised the other fighter‘s superiority. It was a decision borne from will and necessity.
But Midnight often felt that Yves did not consciously decide “I want to be fine because I need to,” but that his words did not notice or understand or trust his body and his voice. It was a disturbing realisation, because it felt like he was not one wizard, but three parts. He was the body, the voice and the words, but as soon as these split, her wizard that was the whole broke. It agitated Midnight. When he was split, the three parts did not correlate, but contradicted each other. A decision was made when one part took over. But with Yves, there were moments when none of the three parts decided. There was something else that directed, the something that Midnight dreaded so much.
Midnight had first encountered the something after they crossed the Sastomian Swamplands. Yves had isolated himself in their tower quarters for over six months. His body had said “I'° .a'.m,s`ick'´°.;:fro,m°,.;´wa.,sti`°ng-a,way`|in':,the-,.DARK,._and´°f,rom~`'NO,T,-._movi,ng',^°;.and-,.from'\,.:eatin´g´´|>too,.mUCH/´ever'.y°;..day,” and his voice had said “I am sad and ashamed and I do not want this,” and his words had said “We WILL go soon” for months. That was when the something had first emerged and acted, but not upon the body or the voice or the words that were the different parts of Yves, but upon itself, which was not Yves, which had never before been Yves. The something had immobilised him. It had acted against the body and the voice and the words. It had made him weak and fat and sick." [B1.C5]
Even after he eventually regained himself, the something never left. It had thrived again with the feathers. And even when Yves did not use them for months, Midnight felt it. It lingered. And she believed that it had infested the bond between the body and the voice and the words. It had infested the bond she shared with the whole that was her wizard."
RELATIONS
BEASTS
(DIS)BELIEF IN GODS
In [B1.C10.P11-13], Midnight reflects on the concept of Gods:
"Midnight had heard about the concept of Gods, but had never truly comprehended what they might be. She had never been able to imagine anything other than creatures that were simply much bigger and stronger than dragons and giants, something akin to grand females that birthed different parts of the world. Such thoughts were abstract, complex, and unfinished, considering a concept too difficult and beyond her immediate needs. With so many creatures on earth bigger and stronger than Midnight, she had never concerned herself with the invisible and elusive entities that humanoid peoples worshipped.
During her fledgling days, even wizards had seemed godlike, with their myriad abilities to shape the world and foresee future events. However, as she observed, learned, and bonded with Yves, Midnight came to understand that wizards were merely different from her. While there were things her wizard could do that she could not, there were also things she could do that he could not.
Midnight reflected on the intricate balance of differences among creatures. She surpassed many beasts in height, yet there were others towering over her. Her strong teeth could tear through a rockshade weaver, but those weavers possessed venomous fangs which she had not. Four powerful legs granted her exceptional running and climbing abilities, distinguishing her from avian beasts with only two legs. Conversely, the winged creatures could soar through the air, a feat beyond her reach.
Considering this perspective, even a dragon was fundamentally just another beast different from Midnight. Their greater height, robust teeth, powerful legs, wings, and wizard abilities set dragons apart, because they were greatly superior to Midnight in various aspects, but at the core, they were still just different.
Was a God not simply a being even more powerful, even more different than a dragon? Where lay the distinction between a beast that was merely very different in the way that she was very superior, and a God?
Midnight had shared this contemplation with Yves once. He had very much agreed but added that Gods were considered different from strong creatures because they were creators. Some Gods were believed to be the creators of entire peoples. This response had left Midnight dissatisfied, as it seemed to imply that she, too, could be a God. Like all females, she could create life if she chose to. There were females everywhere on the continent. The pathera females created all pathera. The fersis females created all fersis. The rockshade weaver females created all weavers. All the living creatures on the continent and in the seas existed only because females created new life.
During their conversation, several years ago, Midnight had not been sure if Yves understood this. He was just a wizard, after all, and they did not have females. They could not birth their own children. Then again, Yves created so many lifelike beings, and so often treated his illusions as if they were real life, that Midnight believed he was, in his wizard way, as close to being a female as any male could get.
When Midnight had wondered whether Gods were just powerful females who birthed an extensive amount of offspring, Yves had expanded her understanding. He had said that some Gods were credited with creating fundamental elements of the world, such as water or stars. From that, Midnight had concluded that Gods were grand females with unique abilities. And they were revered for these abilities by lesser beings, as long as they used them for the benefit of the worshippers.
Such a God was, to Midnight, not a beast worthy of respect. Lesser beings had their own affairs, and there was no reason to interfere with them. In her analogy, Midnight might well be a God to any random group of insects. She could be unique and very different for any herd of fersis, if she suddenly decided to establish a territory for them and protect them from any other predator. They could worship her as their protector. If she dug them a stream, they could name her their Goddess of Water. They might even agree to repeatedly and ritually sacrifice one of their own, as some peoples did for their Gods, to satisfy Midnight’s hunger. And if she did so for decades and without allowing her fersis any contact to prey outside of her territory, there might even be generations that worshipped her without knowing that she, too, was a predator, and that they, to her, were nothing but prey. She would be a God to them, but she would be a lesser beast to any other pathera, because she would abandon her existence as a predator. She would sacrifice her pride as a hunter for the admiration of lesser beings. Being worshipped by prey was to feast on fear and illusion.
These unsettling and unsatisfying conclusions had been Midnight’s thoughts on the concept of Gods. But now, her encounter with the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ had drastically reshaped her understanding. None of her previous assumptions held true. Because now, Midnight believed she had encountered true Gods."
After the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ bestow her with darkness essence in [B1.C10], Midnight starts to believe that they must be Gods amongst the Darkness who acknowledged her. As she develops the ability to shape and control darkness outside of her form, Midnight reasons that "the Gods chose her not to be a mere being of darkness, but a wielder of darkness" [B1.C10]. From there, she concludes:
"Gods were not fallen from pride. Gods were not powerful beings that acted against their nature by overwhelming and tricking lesser beings. They were not predators misleading prey, nor did they act to be acknowledged by such prey.
It was the opposite. With this new piece of essence she had received, with the newfound, pulsating hunger coursing through her veins, Midnight now believed that the defining characteristic of Gods was a different nature. They were not predators, or trappers, or prey. No, they had a unique nature — it was inherent in them to impact other beings. Gods did not act to be acknowledged by lesser beings: they were the ones who sought and acknowledged lesser beings, as the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ had done with Midnight. Gods existed to make lesser beings more."
In [B1.C13], Midnight begins to hear her thoughts speaking in first person. She attributes this voice to her Gods: "She believed it was the voice of her Gods, a whisper born from the fragment of essence the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ had bestowed upon her. And because their essence had first become hers and then it had become her, the voice now spoke not to her or about her, but for her."
SEY — THE MOTHER MOON
After transforming into a being of darkness in [B1.C11], Midnight could no longer feel Sey.
"The realisation twisted something deep within Midnight, beneath all the new thoughts that had begun to coil around and reshape her mind. She knew she had changed, and while she was eager — hungry — to change and become so much more still, this revelation also signified a profound loss. The moon, Sey, which had filled her with strength every night, her ethereal light coursing through her like lifeblood since her birth, now remained unseen, distant, indifferent." [B1.C13]
WIZARDS
"Because they were so different from her, she had never considered that they might once have been beasts like her. She had not asked herself how she could be more like these others. Midnight only ever thought about how to become a better herself.
But this was what wizards did, was it not? The child wizard, who just a year ago struggled with walking and feeding, looked at the 200-year-old Master Luminary who was so different from him and so superior, and yet he asked himself, How can I be like him? And even this most powerful Master Luminary still looked around and asked himself, Why can the witches do what I cannot? How can I learn what they do?" [B1.C10]
CONSUMING WIZARDS
"Midnight had seen familiars consume parts of their dead wizards before. At Emery Thurm, some familiars had simply departed, leaving the wizard's remains to the Ritual of the Dead. Others had consumed a piece — a sliver of flesh, insufficient to satiate any real HUNGER, serving more as a mere echo of what had once been and belonged. Some had taken a heart. Always one, never both. Midnight had never understood why. She did not know what she would do with her own wizard, what she would feel compelled to do." [B1.C13]
When Midnight starts to develop an insatiable HUNGER for essence, she must restrain herself to feed on wizards. [B1.C13]
MENTALITY
HER EXISTENCE AS A BEAST
Throughout the narration, Midnight outgrows her beast existence. Yet, she ever so often feels the call of nature within her, for example when fighting and trapping the shadebeast in [B1.C10]:
"To Midnight, it felt wrong. It was a disturbing realisation. Deep within her lay rooted an understanding founded in nature: that he, who surpassed her in size, strength and speed, should also surpass her in life. She had felt this as their jaws had interlocked and she had been so clearly inferior. And she had felt it during their direct confrontation, when his grand paws had so easily ruptured her. But now, she dominated because she fought like a wizard and acted like a trapper.
It was so disturbing because Midnight saw herself in him. Just days ago, she had felt nothing but rage when the weavers trapped her in the tunnel. And now, in a strikingly similar way, she found it unsettling that the shadebeast was falling into her trap. A grand male like him should not meet his end like this. For many years, Midnight had been just like him. And even now, there was a part of her that wanted to discard all these thoughts and strategies, to simply engage him head-on, trading strikes and bites until one of them faltered. It was the same part of her that would have been truly content with being devoured by him.
But even if she gave in to this remnant of her origin, it would not feel right to Midnight like it did to him. Because this beast part was not her all. She was not the same as him or other hunters. She had a wizard who had taught her to recognise the many traps around her, as well as the futures ahead of her.
Midnight had never recognised Yves’ impact on her as much as she did now, in his absence. Surrounded by beasts who were either hunters or trappers, she realised she was both and more. Her wizard had changed her, gradually but profoundly. And because he did, she had been able to change herself. From his experiences with dimensions and magic, she had learned to embody and wield darkness. Now, she fought with his foresight and skills."
BEING ALL OF HERSELF
Through her bond with Yves, Midnight evolves from a beast to a self-conscious individual. Initially, her perception is rather self-centered and focussed on the present — with herself as a never-changing constant.
"While she did not remember that there had ever been a time when she had not been all that she was, with all her strength and all her senses, she understood from observation that this all expanded with every day. It had been obvious when they had lived amongst many other familiars and wizards. The longer they had been at Emery Thurm, the smaller and weaker the new familiars that arrived every year had seemed in comparison to her. Back when Yves first entered as a novice, Midnight’s all had been smaller and weaker, too. With every day of her life, she had grown, and she had grown stronger. But regardless of how much she had grown, Midnight had always been herself, while Yves had not." [B1.C5]
After her venom transformation, when becoming a shadowbound, Midnight defines her identity as a combination of many parts. To remain this all, she refuses to offer a fragment of her essence to the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ:
"Midnight could not ignore the inherent truth — to give once meant to give in forever. It meant surrendering to an eternal pact. Offering a fraction of herself would leave her with most of her essence, with almost everything. From that moment forward, she would no longer be her all that with every day would grow into the all that she could ever be. No, if she gave once, she would never again be her complete self. She would forever be almost everything of herself, an existence that would then only grow into almost everything she could ever be. And from there, with each subsequent offering, she would diminish more. She would become less and less, until she would find herself in a situation where one fraction more made all the difference — to live with pride, to survive, to fight alongside her wizard. If Midnight gave to other creatures, she would, again, become not enough.
Nature dictated a balance of giving and taking, an equilibrium of feeding and being fed upon. But Midnight had set herself above nature. She had done so when forging a bond with a wizard, and she had done so again when embracing darkness to be more.
This was her essence, her identity. She was a being of darkness, but she had long before been a familiar, and even before that, she had been a pathera. And she was still. She was all of these things. Refusing to give was an assertion of her identity. Midnight was a born predator, and that meant she would disregard all the rules of darkness, and she would discard all the learned wizard strategy — she would fight to the death before allowing another creature to feed upon her." [B1.C10]
To maintain her all, Midnight refused to give essence to Salgier in [B1.C13]:
"Even if she could, Midnight would not diminish herself to give essence to a stranger wizard, just as she would not do so for another beast. She would not lessen her all. There were many wizards in this world, but there was only one her." [B1.C13]
ESSENCE — THE CORE OF EXISTENCE [ARACHNID AND NET]
In [B1.C13] Midnight finds herself unable to impact the material world and natural beasts. While struggling with these drastic changes brought forth by her darkness transformation, she develops a deeper and visual understanding of the correlation between a being's essence and existence:
"In a sudden moment of clarity, a flickering image of an arachnid flashed across Midnight’s mind, a revolting comparison that startled her with its unexpected relevance. The essence of a beast, she realised, was akin to an arachnid spinning and spanning a web around its own eight legs. This web was both a part of the arachnid and something separate, a delicate yet powerful structure that connected its legs and claimed the space in between. Anything caught in this web belonged to the arachnid, to be grasped, encased, consumed, or even released at its discretion.
Yet, while all that the arachnid caught was indeed its own, yes, in the most primal and incontestable understanding of every respectable beast, of the arachnid, it was not the arachnid itself. The web, though inextricably linked to the creature’s existence, was not The Arachnid. Even if the web were destroyed, even if a leg were lost, the arachnid would remain, capable of spinning a new web, of eventually reclaiming its space in the world. Similarly, a beast’s Rothar and body could sustain damage, could be reduced or even severed, yet the essence — the core of its being — might survive, might continue to exist in some form.
This revelation struck Midnight profoundly, though she could not discern its origin; it was certainly not from her wizard, who had never conveyed such an analogy. It was an irritating yet strikingly apt metaphor, aligning with her evolving understanding of essence, body, and Rothar. The body might diminish, grow, break, or shift, and Rothar could be depleted, replenished, or altered. Wizards, for instance, gradually expanded their capacity to hold Rothar over decades, which incrementally changed their all with each passing day. Yet, the wizard remained the wizard, even if his Rothar was depleted or if his body was irreversibly maimed. It was the essence that remained at the core of these temporal extensions, the arachnid at the center of its web, enduring through the cycles of receiving and losing, expanding and contracting, while always defining the space that was of the arachnid, tying together the fractured parts that were its whole, that were its existence
(...) All that lived was not a singular entity but, in truth, a fractured whole. The essence was the immutable center around which everything revolved, yet paradoxically, it seemed that it could not exist independently." [B1.C13]
Lateron, she begins to view grand entitites of nature, such as the Albweiss Mountains, as such layered eistences, too:
"In her time spent beneath the earth, she had come to recognise the mountain itself as such an entity. It, too, was layered like a web, each stratum of frost, stone, and snow building upon the last, claimed by the mountain in the same way as the arachnid claimed the threads it spun. The mountain was not the ice, nor was the ice the mountain. Much was thrown off by relentless winds, by beasts and battles, yet everything retained by the mountain became part of it, defining and shaping the eternal frost of the Albweiss. [It was an] intrinsic entity of rock and ice and breath and life" [B1.C13]
NOTHING CHANGING — THE IN-BETWEEN
In [B1.C13], Midnigt witnesses how Salgir's essence is transferred to the golem, which led her to understand her darkness existence through the concept of being nothing - to change:
"There was a point where Midnight recognised the wizard's shifting essence as something distinct from his existence, a point where it was neither fully his nor entirely consumed by the golem. It was not a break, not a severance, but rather a strand being drawn across a threshold. And within this transition, there was an in-between — where the essence no longer belonged to the wizard but was not yet claimed by the golem.
At this threshold, the essence had a unique presence. It seemed … accessible. But what was it, truly? It was unbound, neither tethered to the wizard nor the golem, yet also not free.
It is change, the voice within her whispered.
And with the words, impulsive intuition swept over Midnight; more of a feeling than any form of literal understanding. The essence at the threshold was not something material or ethereal. It was of itself, yet never not part of either the wizard or the golem. It traversed the strand from one existence to the other, where it was never part of both at the same time, never touched by both simultaneously, while also never free of touch.
That made it an impossible existence, something that defied being. It could not be. It was not. This in-between was not graspable. If time were frozen, there would be nothing that was not part of either the wizard or the golem.
That was the point — There was no point. There was, however, a moment. A moment that was shorter than a breath, shorter than a blink, and shorter still. It was an indefinitely small moment.
The essence at the threshold cannot be. It is becoming, said the voice that spoke for Midnight, like me.
There was nothing. It was Nothing, like Midnight. It was existence itself. It was the process of the shift. It existed only as time progressed.
This is change, said the voice. I am change.
The voice had said so before. Midnight was something unattached, ever-moving. She was nothingness that shifted as time progressed." [B1.C13]
POISON
Before becoming a being of darkness, Midnight became a being of poison. Reflecting on her understanding of change, Midnight realised "that poison brought change to the body and mind. This made it part of the Material Dimension. Yet, poison was more than just a substance. That which was poison was not defined by matter. It was transformation —induced through matter. Poison was a process, inherently destructive by definition. [...]
She had turned destruction into something else: after her battle with the rock weavers, she had suppressed the destructive and gained strength from transformation. If the Existence Arachnid did not remain subject to the poison but made the poison something of herself, then destruction was not the end, but the beginning of change." [B1.C13]
INSTINCT VS STRATEGY — THE BOND WITH A WIZARD
Forsaking beast intuition for wizard insight
"This marked the essence of the bond between familiar and wizard; through repeated trust, they transferred and cultivated each other’s abilities." [B1.C8]
Midnight and Yves influence their perception of the world. Yves relies on Midnight’s senses where his own falter to perceive the present in its fullness, and in return she trusts his ability to envision the future. Their exchange is reciprocal: as she shares, he learns, and vice versa.
Midnight’s senses surpass those of Yves. She navigates utter darkness and possesses acute olfactory senses, honed by a life in the wild. Yves has adapted to seeing the world through her, leveraging her instincts and intuition to recognise disturbances and concealed presences in their surroundings. Her instincts offer a primal understanding, a fusion of all senses that transcends mere sensory enhancement. Yves has his intuition, marked by vague yet distinct feelings, refined through his bond with Midnight. However, he often reasons these feelings, analysing present impressions alongside his knowledge, experiences, and expectations. In contrast, Midnight's intuition operates swiftly and naturally, providing results without the need for conscious reasoning. Yves has learned to trust this intuition as a natural extension of his own senses, instead of demanding or trying to dissect individual sensations.
"It contradicted her intrinsic nature, but her first conclusion was that she should remain motionless." [B1.C8]
Midnight's caution, capacity to resist primal instincts, and her ability to discern traps are skills honed through her wizard. By nature and disposition, he is a strategist, cultivating acute awareness of traps as an artefact hunter and weaving deceptive realities as an illusionist. Their symbiotic exchange expands Midnight's thinking beyond instincts. As shown in [B1.C10], the fusion of innate abilities and learned insights empowered her to re-evaluate actions based on potential futures yet to unfold. She learned to reflect and to envision and, from both, to strategise.
The bond between familiar and wizard extends beyond sharing emotions and sensory input. Yves' transformations in the Mirror Dimension as well as his ability to handle what are to him invisible light fragments lay the foundation for Midnight's transformation into a shadowbound.
"This was the essence of sharing a bond with a wizard. He had learned to alter his essence, to split poison energy, and through their bond, he had passed the potential for this arcane transformation onto her." [B1.C8]
Shared knowledge transforms into instinct, both for the wizard and the familiar, as Midnight notes when considering the limitations of her darkness form:
"Yet, her convictions and conclusions were not a matter of understanding magic, abstract thinking, or logically deducing dimensions. Rather, this knowledge was embedded within her, all that Yves had imparted over the years. Midnight accessed it intuitively, much like her senses, which absorbed countless stimuli and made sense of them through intuition. She understood that she should be able to affect natural, living beings — even if she did not consciously recall individual facts about dimensions, magic, and related considerations." [B1.C13]
NATURE VS NURTURE AND CULTURE
Throughout the narration, Midnight's mental capacities increase.This happens through the bon with Yves and during individual encnters such as the fight against the rockshade weavers within the Albweiss Mountain tunnels in [B1.C8], where the arachnids' venom induced a transformation:
"This newfound sensory awareness was unsettling. Midnight’s body and senses had always been the same; two inseparable facets of the whole that was her. If one faltered, so did the other. But now, as paralysis tightened its grip, her awareness surged. Her body succumbed to the venom, and her thoughts, instead of equally withering from within, began to observe her demise from the outside. They swelled in mass and complexity, spanning more time, drawing in a multitude of memories." [B1.C8]
With her transformation, she understands that she becomes more than a beast:
"With her transformation came an unsettling awareness for her altered self. As Midnight saturated her Rothar with the venomous essence that had so profoundly brought her senses and thoughts into disarray, she felt herself fracture, an eternity unfurling in the chasm that opened with the venom and brought forward the darkness. She merged and emerged as more than the sum of these fractured parts; she was more. And yet, a lingering schism remained etched within her, a split marking the first time she felt herself as two entities. The body, the past and primal; and the words, the awareness that came from within but existed outside of her physical form. Midnight knew that these two parts would now forever differ, but they would also, both, be darkness. And as soon as she felt this duality, she believed that she had always been these two things but just never acknowledged it, because once you were, you could not imagine that you had never been.
Acknowledging the split meant shedding the pure essence of a beast to become more. It was the conscious decision to not merely follow the path of her wizard, but to embody it. To live it with everything she was and would be. Midnight took in the darkness and the knowledge, and elevated them over her nature and her instincts. She offered the whole that had been her, and acquired in exchange the arcane path that defined her magic. The darkness resonated within her; it was hers." [B1.C8]
With growing awareness, Midnight begins to reflect on her development as something more than a beast. With that, she learns to critically discern the differences between beasts and humanoid peoples.
"Midnight, too, killed and ate other beings. She killed to survive, defend and to sustain herself, but she was never cruel with prey. She hunted fairly and killed swiftly. However, Midnight had many times experienced that what was natural and sensible for her and most beasts demanded great restraint from humanoid peoples. They needed many words to kill. They played with their prey and tortured their enemies, and relied on established rules to be less cruel." [B1.C10]
BECOMING MORE
Midnight's development is marked by her growing desire to beome more, which animates her to take great risks and to challenge superior beasts.
"Growth required action. It demanded risks, challenges, and the relentless pursuit of understanding. To become more, she had to expand the territory she traversed, to confront and transcend the limits of her abilities." [B1.C13]
RESPONSIBILITY AND DUTY
"The world of humanoids and beasts was not hers to save or to suffer." [B1.C13]
Midnight has shown to prioritise her own ambitions and her wizard's needs over that of others. In general, she does not act upon impulses to help those beasts or strangers who are weaker or in need of assistance, instead expressing a prevailing conviction that individuals are responsible for themselves.
This showed when she left Salgier and his party after they were defeated by the Haraak in [B1.C13]:
"The party’s fates and struggles belonged to a different web of consequence, one she would no longer entangle herself in. The wizard’s death, in the end, held no meaning for her beyond the faint interest of having observed it." [B1.C14]
THE DEVELOPMENT OF HER THOUGHTS
Through her bond with Yves and her transformation into a being of darkness, Midnight undergoes great mental changes. Her thoughts gain a complexity far exceeding the capabilities of common beasts.She starts to analyse the world and phenomena around her:
"She had never contemplated the nature and powers of the world, as well as magic, in such depth before her venom transformation. She had not reflected with such conscious depth, but felt and acted. And in the way she had acted, Midnight had divided the world into possibilities and impossibilities. Knowing what she could do had been sufficient, and it had never been necessary to understand all the reasons behind these possibilities. Now, however, with her thinking seeming so much more complex, these considerations seemed to come naturally." [B1.C13]
As her awareness grows, her ability to reflect and compare past experiences develops:
"She had always thought in the present, grounded in the here and now, observing and responding to her immediate surroundings. But now, increasingly, these foreign thoughts intruded and interrupted; abstract notions running parallel to the world she observed, feelings and ideas incongruent with what she was experiencing in that moment. It was disorienting, as if parts of herself were unfolding in directions she could not fully control, fragments of insight and emotion arising from realities she could not quite access." [B1.C13]
With [B1.C13], she begins to hear the voice; thoughts speaking in first person:
"It did not impart knowledge she did not possess, like Yves so often did, nor did it explain facets of the world beyond her comprehension, as the academy masters or other humanoid people had done time and again. Instead, it revealed knowledge that existed within Midnight. And as it did, it conveyed the truth not to her, but for her — a subtle yet profound difference.
The voice had first spoken during her fight with the shadebeast. It had been but a whisper, yet in the heat of battle, it had startled her greatly. Now, as she wove her path through the dense mountain rock, Midnight remembered. After she had sacrificed her original essence to the darkness, the voice had said:
I am darkness. Darkness is me." [B1.C13]
"She believed it was the voice of her Gods, a whisper born from the fragment of essence the DΔϢΠΙΠƓϛ had bestowed upon her. And because their essence had first become hers and then it had become her, the voice now spoke not to her or about her, but for her." [B1.C13]
"After the first whisper, the voice had fallen silent until Midnight had consumed the shadebeast. As she had claimed his essence, the voice had whispered again, though it had sounded slightly different. It had said:
I am change. Change is me." [B1.C13]
Lateron, the voice transferred concusions of reason, such as when Midnight realied that she could be spotted by others when carrying the sigil ring she found within the Albweiss ice cavern [B1.C13], or when she compared the essence woven into the golem with the Jabarrah fused with Yves [B1.C14].
POSSESSIONS
ARTEFACTS
▪ Messenger Strings: Two lifelines from Yves, for the Albweiss Mountain Guild and Barnstream Harbour Guild.
▪ Messenger string: Found in the Albweiss Mountain ice cavern [B1.C10] and additionally inscribed by Salgier in [B1.C13].
▪ Beast wizard sigil ring: Found in the Albweiss Mountain ice cavern [B1.C10].
CLOTHING
Nothing at the moment.
WEAPONS
Midnight is her own weapon.
ILLUSTRATIONS
A growing collection of illustrations featuring Midnight that appear within the narration.
B1.C4.P19 — Yves and Midnight. Feathers of Varna
B1.C8.P12 — Albweiss Mountains. Northside. Entering. Midnight
B1.C8.P29 — Albweiss Mountains. Within. Midnight. Shifting into Darkness
B1.C14.P14 — Midnight. Pathera and Patherren. Afterword: Christmas Greetings
